Friday, June 01, 2012

SOME NEWS AND A RANT

## Three games in Detroit if the weather holds out. If it's going to rain, let it be on Sunday when Verlander is scheduled to pitch. Hopefully, A-Rod can show a little power. He doesn't think he's lost any power, but since those two blasts in one game, he's had no extra base hits. Thursday, he had three singles and got hit by a pitch, which was great for his on-base pct. and batting average but he didn't drive in any runs. A-Rod says he'll take that any day, which is fine if you're the leadoff hitter, not when you're batting clean-up.

## Speaking of singles, Johnny Damon is trying desperately to reach 3000 hits. He needs 263 more, which means playing full time this year and next if he's going to make it. Currently he's hitting .152 in 90+ at bats. That isn't going to do it even if he does play until 2014.

## The Dodgers are looking for help in the outfield and first base. Nick Swisher fits that need and word is he's not in the Yankees plans for next year. The Dodgers can afford to take on the salary, so don't be surprised if a deal goes down.

## Another headline that takes a second look:
PEDROIA CAN'T SWING
I'll bet his wife is thrilled.

## SportsPickle.com listed the schedule for Terrell Owens Youth Football Camp:
9:00 - 9:30 Touchdown Celebration Drill
9:30 - 10:00 Making fun of quarterbacks
10:00 - 10:15 Walking out of practice
10:15 - 10:45 exercising in the driveway
10:45 - 11:00 Blaming teammates for your mistakes
11:00 Being asked to leave
Sharpie use is optional  -- Dwight Perry

***THE UMPIRES CORNER*** (New feature - but an old problem)
## I suppose everyone has seen the replay of a runner being called out when the first baseman is clearly 3 feet away from the bag. So bad, it's laughable, but at least no one was ejected for arguing. I think everybody was just too stunned.
## Laz Diaz, who was behind the plate for the last NY - LA game, got mad at Russell Martin for chirping about the bad calls, so he "punished" him by not letting him throw new baseballs back to the pitcher. Laz did it himself, because he knew that Martin liked to do it to keep his arm loose. When Martin objected, he told him he had to "earn the right" to throw it back to the pitcher. How childish can you get? How can an umpire do something like this and still claim to be objective? Why doesn't Bunglin' Bud Selig do something about this?
## Here's why. Bud is busy in Chicago scolding Hawk Harrelson, the White Sox announcer, for berating an umpire on the air.  First of all, I don't know what right Selig has to do this. Harrelson doesn't work for MLB or the White Sox. Harrelson works for Comcast Sports Net and WGN.
What happened was, a Tampa Ray pitcher hit AJ Pierzynski in the shoulder. No warnings were issued and nothing was said.The next inning, the Sox pitcher threw behind Tampa's Ben Zobrist and was immediately ejected as was Mgr Robin Ventura for protesting. That's when Harrelson went off on the air:
"What are you doing? He threw him out of the ballgame, you've got to be bleepin' me!" Harrelson said after the ejection. "What in the hell are you doing? What are you doing Wegner? You got to be kidding me. That is so bad, that is absolutely brutal. That is unbelievable. I'll tell you what, they have got to start making guys be accountable. That is totally absurd. Here's an umpire in the American League that knows nothing about the game of baseball. They have got to do something about this. They have got some guys in this league that have no business umpiring. They have no business umpiring because they don't know what the game of baseball is about."
Hawk is right, of course, but that makes no difference to the powers that be.

## In the Roger Clemens perjury trial, his former manager, Phil Garner, told this story. Whe he went to talk to Clemens on the mound, Roger complained about home plate. "It's off," he said. Garner and the grounds crew denied it, saying it was laid out with a laser, but they rechecked it later. It was skewed by a quarter of an inch.

## Boston GM, Ben Cherington, says the Red Sox are not actively shopping Kevin Youkilis. Translation: "Nobody will give us what we're asking for."

## Just to let you know that the Yankees never give up:  A couple of days ago, Coco Crisp mis-played a ball in centerfield hit by Robbie Cano. It was ruled an errror. The Yanks appealed the call and today the ruling was changed to a double. Now, if they can just figure a way to get losses changed to wins.

***THEY SAID IT***
"The Seattle Mariners scored 21 runs against Texas this week.They would have had 22 but home plate became completely worn out. The Rangers’ pitching was so bad that owner Nolan Ryan was summoned to the bullpen in the 4th inning."  -- TC Chong 
"How fitting: The Charlotte Bobcats — after posting the worst winning percentage in NBA history — couldn't win the draft lottery, either."  -- Dwight Perry
"Snoop Dogg threw out the ceremonial first pitch at a White Sox game:  And as predicted, the pitch was pretty high."  -- Jimmy Fallon
"Lolo Jones, a 29-year-old U.S. Olympic hurdler, tweeted she's been 'saving herself' until she gets married. Chastity is tough. Marriage? Now that's a hurdle."  -- RJ Currie
It's not sports, but it's funny: The Los Angeles City Council voted to ban plastic bags.This makes LA the only place where you can get caught with a baggie containing marijuanna and do time for the baggie and not for wht's inside.  -- Brad Dickson
"The Dodgers have put 5 position players on the DL in the last two weeks, and have won 10 of their last 12. If they get a few more injuries Los Angeles could really run away with the division."  -- Janice Hough 
"'The Avengers' made more than $1 billion in its first 19 days. That's almost $2 billion a month; now we're talking 'Alex Rodriguez money'."  -- Jerry Perisho

CP-



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